A movie about a British spy trying to stop an Asian supervillain's plot for world domination? Hmm. Let me see. The first Christopher Lee Fu Manchu film was 1965. The first James Bond film, Dr. No, was 1962. Both characters had existed for decades prior, but 1965 was the first Fu Manchu feature film. I wonder if the success of the Bond movie had anything to do with it.

I'm more than half an hour into watching this experiment for the first time. I just watched a 3 or 4 minute scene filled with dialogue. I have no idea who they were or what they were talking about. Mighty Jack was more coherent than this...

Fu Manchu was created by Arthur Ward under the pen name Sax Rohmer. According to Wiki:

Sax Rohmer, without any prior knowledge and understanding of Chinese culture, decided to start the Fu Manchu series after his ouija board spelled out C-H-I-N-A-M-A-N when he asked what was the most dangerous competition to the white man. During the time period, the idea of the Yellow Peril was spreading in North American society.

The character was pretty popular for a while. Enough so that popular demand forced Ward to revive the series even after he got tired of it. Eventually, though, people started to realize how casually racist it all was. Fu Manchu dropped in popularity. So Ward created a new, equally incomprehensible series about a maniacal exotic evil mastermind, Sumuru. They made several Sumuru movies, one of which is shown in season 0 episode 18. If you think this movie is bad, check out that one.

AH, the eternal question: is this, _____, truly the worst movie ever made? There's truth to Tom Servo's famous observation, and it is true that I have not seen every movie ever made, nor have movies stopped being made.

But. I doubt I can state my feelings about this turgid, flaccid, murky, bitter, nasty little wad of ichorous phlegm better than "Slamdance Cosmopolis" lower in this discussion thread, so I refer you to that pithy gem of an assessment.

There's just nothing to grasp hold of. Hell, even Manos had Torgo and his haunting theme, and some striking photography. Well, striking to me. Even Cave Dwellers had the sheer ludicrosity of the plot shenanigans and the fabulous puppet monster. Even Red Zone Cuba had the wretched anti-aesthetic of Coleman Francis mesmerizing the audience with its aggressive stance against human decency. Even Monster-a-Go-Go had the abrupt finale to provide amusement around the water cooler the next morning.

Bad movies can be oh so good, but this movie is just--and thoroughly--bad. IN a way what makes it so bad for me is that it was made by professionals and was expected to deliver a ROI.

I realize I'm in the minority here, but I like this episode. The riffs make it so worth it. Yes, this movie is bad in so many ways, but aren't ALL of the movies they riff bad in many ways?! Hooray for this episode!

Almost impossible to watch this one... Frank's pompadour has collapsed into some kind of mullet. That's what happens when you run out of mousse and use your kid brother's LA Looks hair gel, happened to me once. Oh, and the movie is pretty bad too.

OMG, seriously, do they have to pay people to own a copy of this movie since Christoper Lee is in it? I still think Manos is worse, but man, I would rather sit through three viewings of Mighty Jack than watch this ever again.

One of the riffs that I noticed the last time I watched this one is pretty much impossible to just write out and have it make any sense.

During the dam-breaking scene, the camera keeps cutting back to Fu Manchu, over and over again. Fu Manchu, more water flowing, Fu Manchu, more water. And quietly, every single time it flashes back to Fu Manchu, Servo says, "Fu." That's it. Every cut. "Fu." "Fu." "Fu." And it's hilarious. To me, anyway.

While only a masochist would actually watch the original movie, the one currently linked here at least has the advantage of being colour-corrected. Now I know more about Professor Heracles's nosehairs than even Joel.

Between this and Mighty Jack, it would seem that there's some sort of curse on movies about Asian villains attacking the world with crazy water-freezing technology whereby no such movie can have a remotely coherent plot.

I think Servo read his line wrong when he said '...personally, I would have worn sling backs with those shoes'. Slingbacks are a style of shoe, and Joel seems to notice the mistake. I am impressed with the insight the boys have on women's apparel though...makes me wonder who advised them on such matters?

Forget about Manos, monster a go-go, or hobgoblins this is the worst movie MST3k ever tried to riff on and definitely the least fun. On the DVD they actually talk about how hard it was to make up any riffs on this beyond terrible boring movie.

1) What did the sinking of the Titanic have to do with a British guy inappropriately camping it up as a Chinese bad guy in a Turkish castle located in Spain? (You don’t have to answer that question. No one can).

2) At least Rosalba Neri (Lisa) was HOT and appeared in some “interesting” Italian movies like AMUCK (You might like to Google Image her in that, but only if you are over 18).

So we're supposed to buy the whirlwind jailhouse tryst between Dr. "Kinda Looks Like Roddy McDowell If You Squint" and Nurse Whatshertits?
The man's clearly gayer than a tree full of parrots! He makes Nathan Lane look like Chuck Norris, and HE'S the one they choose for their "Romantic" scenes?
Stupid movie :P

I can't believe it, I finally made it thru this movie. I would have to say it's DOWN RIGHT AWFUL. I had to try to watch it 3 times and I kept falling asleep, and/or walking off and forgetting that I was watching the movie..... probably because the plot lasted for a whole minute two or three times. The riffing was great as usual, however even they were crying at the end. I probably would have to if I actually watched the whole thing at once the first time....... enjoy (if you can, hahaha)